1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical waveguide holding device attached onto a printed circuit board of an optical transceiver for performing conversion between electric signals and optical signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, communications performed with optical fibers have become prevalent due to the development of high-speed, large-capacity communication networks and communication control devices. For example, information terminals installed in offices and households are connected, by optical fibers, to a communication network such as the Internet to transmit/receive signals. Optical transceivers, which are capable of performing bi-directional conversion between electric signals and optical signals, are provided where personal computers and peripheral equipment are connected to an optical fiber (external optical fiber). Such an optical transceiver includes an optical waveguide provided between the external optical fiber and a photoelectric conversion unit (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-051271
The above-described optical transceiver includes an optical waveguide holding device for holding the optical waveguide. The optical waveguide holding device is provided on a printed circuit board on which the photoelectric conversion unit is disposed. If the optical waveguide holding device is a molded product made of the same material as that of the cladding layer of optical fiber, a gap for providing the optical waveguide and a part to be connected to the external optical fiber is integrally formed in the optical waveguide holding device. A core member is injected into the integrally formed gap to form an optical fiber, and this optical fiber is used as the optical waveguide.
As described above, the core member is provided in the gap that has been formed by a molding process. For this reason, there have been limitations as to the freedom in the direction of connecting to the external optical fiber (connection direction) or the freedom in the position for connecting the external optical fiber (connection position).
Moreover, with the molding process, there are limitations in the molding thickness. Therefore, there may be cases where the densification of the optical waveguide is limited.